Ninja and the Ink Machine
by ShinyShiny9
Summary: April Fool's 2017! Nothing to do with "Bendy and the Ink Machine." Just fun and fluff and realm-toppling anarchy. And Sensei Yang being a griefer.
1. This Disorder Kills Your Day

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago or any of its small LEGO peoples.**

* * *

"Can you not," said Cole, leaning wearily against the door.

He wasn't going to lie, there were lots of wonderful things about moving into the old Temple of Airjitzu. Each of the ninja got their own rooms now, and the dojo downstairs was great. The floating island meant they didn't have to worry much about security. There was lots of space, and after some dusting the temple proved to be a bright, cheery place to live.

Thennnnn there was Sensei Yang.

Things had been awkward at first. After a whole night of death battling, psychological warfare, various attempts at taking over Ninjago, and ultimately Yang sacrificing himself to allow Cole to become mortal again, they didn't really know how to behave towards each other for a while. For good measure, it quickly became clear that Cole was the only one who could see or hear Yang. The former evil Sensei was grouchy about that.

He was grouchy about a whole lot of things, actually.

"What do you youngsters get up to these days?" he groused, rummaging through Cole's top drawer. Most of the contents were already scattered on the floor. "What is this? Moth-eaten trousers?"

"They're _called_ ripped jeans, and they're very in," said Cole, starting to pick up his things. "And have you ever heard of privacy?"

"Privacy," scoffed the ghostly Sensei, tossing himself back and floating across the room. "You, walking around with gaping holes in your pants, lecturing _me_ about privacy! Next the youth will be wandering around with no clothing at all. Modern society!"

Cole rolled his eyes, hiding a smile as he dumped the last of his stuff back into the drawer. Several centuries of being a crazy evil guy locked in a temple didn't just go away overnight. Sensei Yang was a grouchy old coot most of the time, with no interest in modern Ninjago and very little approval for anything anyone did. He even dissed Sensei Wu frequently.

But over time Cole had found he was really quite a softie, somewhere in there, and with a pretty wicked sense of humor to boot. They forged a squabbly sort of friendship with mentor-student undertones; Yang sometimes offered advice just as good as Wu's. Cole came to see the old ghost as a sort of cool grandfather. Which was nice—he'd never known his real grandparents, and he kinda liked feeling that he could keep this elderly man company, take care of him a little bit.

Although honestly he sometimes felt _he_ was the one who needed caring for, what with Yang's shenanigans.

Forcing his drawer closed despite the disarray inside, Cole grabbed a pad of paper and flopped down on his bed. Sensei Yang had started meditating, floating upside-down in the corner, but eventually he opened one disapproving eye.

"What are you doing now? Planning some devilry, no doubt."

"Actually, I am," said Cole, smiling sweetly. "Lots of devilry."

Sensei Yang's scowl deepened. Cole wondered briefly how his beard continued pointing to his feet even though he was upside-down.

"You know what tomorrow is?" he said, pointing to the calendar on his wall. "April first. April Fool's Day. Did they already have that before you became a ghost?"

"If they did, I wouldn't have approved of it anyway. I have no use for fools."

Cole rolled his eyes again.

"It's a day when people play tricks on each other. I know a lot of the others are already coming up with tons of new ideas, what with the new base and all, and I need to hold my own."

"Hmph! Frivolity." Yang shut his eyes.

"It _is_ frivolity," retorted Cole. "And it's fun."

"Which is deeply evidenced by your sour expression," said Yang, not opening his eyes.

"Ahhh." Cole tossed aside the writing pad with a sigh. "I'm just a little strapped for ideas, that's all. It's less fun when you're only on the receiving end." After a moment he lifted his head to look at Yang. "Sayyyy. You can still pick stuff up and move doors and everything, right? Do you think you could help me out?"

"Most certainly not." Yang opened his eyes and glared.

"Awwww, come on, please? You'd be the perfect accomplice!" Cole adopted his best coaxing tone. "Come on. Just make a few things move around, maybe float a little? You can't stay locked up in this temple for three thousand years without having a little fun."

"Frivolity aside, it would simply be impractical," said Yang, floating back upright. He shook his head. "Your little blue friend seems unhinged enough without the intervention of a poltergeist."

"His name is Jay, and he's _not_ unhinged." Cole flopped back again. "Ugh. You're right, though. I went to all that trouble convincing everyone that this temple isn't haunted, and Jay's still really paranoid. No use undoing all that work now, I guess."

"Precisely." Yang folded his arms. "My advice would be to get yourself out of this temple tomorrow and actually do something useful with your life. For a change."

"You're one to talk," grumbled Cole, making irritated marks on the writing pad. Then he winced and looked up. "Sorry. That was—"

"Youth these days," muttered Yang, and puffed himself out through the nearest wall. Cole sighed, letting his forehead thunk to the drawing pad.

* * *

The next morning Cole was awoken by a scream from downstairs. He bolted upright, his heart pounding. The next second he realized it probably had something to do with April Fool's Day, and relaxed. Then the second after that there was a ton of crashing and hollering downstairs, and he went tense all over again. That sounded a little too intense to be a prank.

He scrambled out of bed, forgetting even to be cautious while opening the door. Luckily nobody had rigged it. He hurried down the hall, getting more anxious by the second—was that _wind_ he heard?

He found the living room in disaster. Moving boxes were overturned everywhere, the sofa was lying on its back, and Jay and Nya were sprawled on the floor, looking terrified.

"What just happened here? Did you use Spinjitzu indoors?" asked Cole.

"Are you kidding? The freaking window opened on its own!" said Jay, pointing. Cole's mouth fell open. Beyond the window there appeared to be _outer space_.

"It opened and all the air started to rush out of the room!" said Nya shakily. "I nearly got sucked out!"

"You're . . . kidding, right?" said Cole. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if the two of them had stuck a very fancy window cling to the window, messed up the room themselves, and then made the story up.

Kai, Lloyd, and Zane had appeared by now.

"Woah, what's with the mess in— _hooooly_ cow!" Kai caught sight of the planets and galaxies floating outside. "How did you do that?!"

"We didn't!" wailed Jay.

At that moment the window suddenly slid open again, all by itself. The ninja cried out in horror as air started to rush out into the vacuum of space, tumbling boxes end-over-end and sending the curtains flailing. Everyone grabbed onto someone else or something heavy, struggling to anchor each other safely. Most of them ended up bracing behind the overturned sofa.

"We need to close the window!" shouted Kai above the whistling wind.

"No, don't go there! It'll drag you out!" cried Nya. Kai tried to stand up, then immediately stumbled from the force of the wind and started sliding inexorably towards the open window.

"Gotcha!" Zane grabbed his hand and started dragging him behind the sofa.

Just at that second the window slid shut, and the wind stopped. Everything that had been tumbling or flapping about crashed to the floor, including the ninja. For a few moments there was only panting and groans of relief.

"What _is_ this?" gulped Nya.

"I told you this temple was haunted!" yelped Jay. "You remember when we were here at night and we tried to get out the door and there was just a huge void? IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN!"

"That was a void, not outer space!"

"I don't care what you want to call it," said Kai, standing up. "I'm nailing that window shut."

He approached the window with a grim but slightly nervous step, clearly worried it would open again. He got close without any incident, though. He paused for just a moment, peering with wide eyes into the abyss of space.

Then a giant spaceship suddenly hove into view, charging a white-hot ion cannon on its front. It was aimed straight at the ninja temple, like an angry glowing eye. Kai gave a yelp of terror and yanked the curtains shut, and everyone threw themselves to the floor and shielded their heads.

They waited a long time, barely breathing, but nothing happened. There was no sound of laser fire, certainly no molecule-shattering explosion. After what felt like an eternity, Kai slowly sat up and looked at the others. Then he clambered to his feet, teeth gritted, and pulled aside one curtain just the teeniest bit.

Sunshine. A blue sky, sweet puffy clouds, a happy bird fluttering by for good measure. Blinking, Kai pulled the curtains all the way open and looked outside.

"It's our yard. Everything's . . . normal."

Everyone looked at everyone else.

"That was too weird," said Lloyd at last. Jay laughed shakily.

"I'd like to meet whoever rigged that up. They must be a genius." He looked to the kitchen and groaned. "Ughhh, now our prank is ruined."

"'Our'?"

"Nya and I teamed up this year."

"Of course you did," said Kai.

"What were you gonna do?" asked Lloyd, already mostly recovered from the space ordeal.

"Well, we were gonna switch the bags of cereal between the cereal boxes—"

"Pshh, seriously?" Kai folded his arms. "Amateurs."

"That was only the first step!" said Jay. "The first step of, uh, a very complicated and intricate plan!"

"Really?" Zane raised an eyebrow. Jay and Nya shared a glance before heaving defeated sighs. The others laughed.

"Amateurrrrs," sang Kai.

"Oh, shut up." Jay shoved him lightly, and they all began to pick their way through the mess in the living room towards the kitchen, exchanging good-natured insults. Cole hung back to lock the window, just in case. He looked out at the sunny yard for a moment, his brows knitted. Then he shook his head and headed to the kitchen as well.

* * *

They gulped down breakfast hastily, cautious about the salt and sugar. Everyone disappeared in different directions soon afterwards, clearly plotting.

Suddenly there was an uproar from the kitchen. Zane and Jay were the first to hear it, and they went rushing in to see what was happening.

"Okay, this is even weirder," said Jay.

A chocolate cake seemed to have developed a mind of its own. It was currently galloping all over the kitchen (difficult, since it had no legs), snapping at Cole's ankles (also difficult, since it had no teeth).

"Back! Back, you!" Cole was defending himself with a frying pan. Finally he chased the cake into a cupboard, slammed the door, and rubber-banded the knobs together.

"Phew." He swiped at his forehead. "That was _crazy!_ " He looked at the two ninja standing in the doorway. "Somebody pinch me. I'm hoping this is just one of those really nasty nightmares."

"I don't think I can be awake in someone else's nightmare," said Jay.

"I am quite sure I cannot," agreed Zane. The cake growled and rattled the doors of its cupboard prison.

Then there was another commotion nearby. Everyone rushed that way. This time they found Kai emerging from the bathroom rubbing his eye.

"I was attacked by a toothbrush," he groaned. "A freaking _toothbrush!_ "

"Are you okay?"

"I think, yeah. Just . . . not really sure what I'm supposed to tell the dentist during my next checkup."

"We should tell Sensei," said Zane. "This is becoming unsettling."

While looking for Wu they found Lloyd being plagued by rabbits. There were great fluffy swarms of them piling around him, trying to scrabble up his legs. He couldn't walk for fear of stepping on one.

"Rabbits?" said Cole.

"Don't look at me! They came out of nowhere!" Lloyd tried in vain to scoop his way out of the seething mass of bunnies. One of them had somehow managed to crawl down the back of his shirt. Another was chewing on the cuff of his sock.

"I gotta say, you got off easy," said Kai.

"Oh, you would be surprised how hard they bite," said Lloyd, trying to shake a rabbit off his arm. "A little help here?"

The others started helping to peel rabbits off the green ninja.

"Awww, hi there, Fluffy!" grinned Jay, pausing to cuddle one particularly sweet-looking rabbit. The creature promptly emitted an altogether too deep snarl and bared a set of razer-sharp fangs. Jay yelped and dropped it.

"We _really_ need to talk to Sensei!" said Kai.

While Zane and Jay stayed to help Lloyd herd out the last of the rabbits, and Kai went looking for Sensei Wu, Cole went looking for someone else entirely.

"Master Yang?" He poked his head into the dumbwaiter. The ghostly sensei often liked to meditate there, but now it was empty.

"Master Yannng?" Next Cole checked the laundry room. There was no black-bearded Airjitzu master sitting cross-legged atop the dryer.

"Hey, Master Yang!" Cole checked up the chimney.

"I'm here, boy, what do you want?" asked an irritated voice behind him. Cole pulled his head out of the chimney flue and looked around. He finally noticed Sensei Yang, poking his head out of a decorative urn. The lid was perched atop his hat, and the urn itself was much too small to actually hold a Sensei, but when you were a ghost such things didn't matter.

"Master Yang!" Cole scowled. "Okay, I know I shouldn't have said that last night, and I'm sorry, but this is taking things a little _too_ far. These jokes aren't funny."

"I haven't done anything." Sensei Yang allowed the urn's lid to fall through him into its proper place, and oozed his way easily out of the container. "I've seen the nonsense that's been going on today. Windows opening to space? Killer cakes? Plagues of rabbits? You think such things are within my powers?"

"Well, I . . . thought you might be possessing stuff or something," said Cole, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Don't be foolish, boy. I certainly couldn't pull such capers. Amusing as your confusion is."

"Oh, you're real helpful," said Cole drily.

"Hey, who are you talking to?" said a familiar voice. Kai stood in the doorway, looking at Cole oddly.

"Oh, uh—" Cole looked around, seeing only Yang. "My . . . self?"

"Okay?" Kai kept looking at him strangely. Cole realized he was all sooty.

"I was, uh, checking up the chimney," he said, hastening to brush himself off. "What with all the weird things happening today, I thought there might be another portal to space, or . . . Santa, or . . . something."

"Brilliant save," said Yang flatly. Cole caught himself before he could give the snarky oldster an irritated look. Kai looked pretty convinced, though.

"You're probably closer to the right track, honestly," he sighed. "Sensei Wu doesn't know what's going on either. He and Misako are beating up a _rug._ With brooms. Apparently it tried to go flying carpet on them."

Suddenly Nya came bursting in from the outdoors.

"You guys, I was just on the _Bounty_ ," she yelled. "We have like five million distress calls! Ninjago City is in chaos! EVERYWHERE is in chaos!"

"Oh no!"

Everyone started rushing around getting suited up and ready for action. Sensei Yang settled down in the fireplace so people would stop running through him.

"Good luck in the city, boy," he called. "I really fail to see what you youngsters find 'fun' in all this madness."

"This is _not_ what is supposed to happen!" grumbled Cole, and ran out the door after the others.

* * *

They flew the _Bounty_ down to Ninjago City, which was indeed roiling. Trees had pulled up their roots and were dancing in the city park. Skyscrapers were wobbling like towers of jello. All the stoplights were flashing completely random orders, and the electric billboards were printing out insults instead of advertisements.

"Now that's just indecent," scowled Jay, hands on hips as he looked up at one of the boards.

"We've got bigger problems right now," called Lloyd. "Everyone split up, make sure the people are safe! See if you can get any clues about when this started or what caused it. We'll regroup here in half an hour."

Everyone dashed off in different directions. Cole checked through a few skyscrapers, making sure that everyone had evacuated safely. Most citizens had already headed for the outskirts of the city, actually fairly calm considering the situation. Living where they did, they were used to deranged disruptions.

Cole found himself being harrassed by streetlamps. They had suddenly developed bendy necks, and they kept bending down to nudge him with their lightbulb heads. One poked him between the shoulderblades. When he turned around to look, another gave him a solid kick in the pants. When he whirled around that way, a third one bopped him on the head. Then it stole his ninja mask.

"Heyyyy, give that back!" Cole grabbed, but the streetlamp quickly pulled back and rose up to its full height, taking the mask with it. Cole groaned, craning his neck to look woefully after his stolen mask.

"Oh my. Having a bit of trouble, are we? Can I be of assistance?"

Cole blinked at the cultured, slightly British voice behind him.

"Ah, no, but thanks." He only gave a brief glance back, but then he registered a double-take and snapped his head around. There was nobody there.

"Down here, old chap."

Cole's gaze shifted downwards. A miniature poodle stood at his feet, tail wagging.

"There, that's better!" it said amiably. "Are you quite all right?"

Cole sputtered.

"You're—y-you're a—a dog?!"

"Well yes, I suppose you could say that." The poodle ducked its nose a bit, evidently offended.

"But—how—why—"

"Ugh." The poodle tossed its head impatiently. "If all you can do is make incoherent noises, I suppose I had better leave you to it."

It pattered off, collar jingling. Cole rubbed his hands over his eyes and dragged them back through his hair, lost beyond words. Finally he sighed and started climbing up that lamppost to retrieve his mask.

He did fine until he'd actually got the mask in his clutches, at which point the lamppost suddenly went limp, dumping him into the street. He tumbled to a halt right in the square where he was supposed to meet the others. Nobody commented on his undignified entrance; they were all starting to look a little wild-eyed and frazzled. Zane was dripping with melted ice cream.

"What is going _on?_ " wailed Jay.

"Nobody knows!" said Lloyd. "Everyone says it suddenly just started. And it just keeps getting weirder and weirder!"

"Too weird," groaned Nya. "It's like—I don't know, like someone's messing with the very fabric of reality! I'm gonna lose my mind!"

"Wait." Zane suddenly went still. "That's it! Someone _is_ tampering with the fabric of reality!"

"What?" Kai gave him a dismayed look. "That's impossible. Nobody has the power to mess with reality."

"Wait." Realization was dawning in Lloyd's eyes. "Nobody . . . nobody except for—"

"Cloud Kingdom!" everyone shouted.

"That. Explains. EVERYTHING!" Jay shook his fist at the sky. "Those crazy bathrobe people thought they could get one over on us!"

He was lucky it was already such a crazy day in the city, otherwise he'd really have attracted some strange looks from passerby.

"Okay, those 'bathrobe people' have some 'splaining to do," said Cole, jamming his mask back on. "Everyone to the _Bounty!_ "


	2. We Care to not Toil With Unbroken Chains

They made a breathless pit stop back at the Temple of Airjitzu to tell Wu and Misako the news and prepare for a mission to Cloud Kingdom. Sensei Wu said he'd stay behind to guard the temple in case more strange things happened. Misako agreed to look after the _Bounty_ after the ninja reached the Wailing Alps. Everyone else was going realm-hopping.

"Pack all your weapons! And maybe some lunch!" called Lloyd, as everyone scurried around preparing. "We don't know what's going on with those monks up there."

Cole skidded into the laundry room to get a new mask—his current one was dirty from the streetlamp stealing it. He yelped in surprise when Sensei Yang suddenly popped out of a basket of laundry.

"Hey, ya mind?!"

"I should ask that of you," said Yang bitterly. "I'm trying to get a moment's peace here."

"Stuff still happening?" said Cole, beginning to dig frantically for his mask.

"I should say. While you were out the temple turned upside-down, then everything made of metal suddenly caught fire, and then for a while all the halls were simply crawling with creepy little girls in pale-blue dresses."

"Oh wow." Cole slowed his search, grimacing. "That sounds bad. I hope it's okay to leave Sensei here . . . "

"Nonsense. He may be several centuries my junior, but he's quite a competent man." Yang shrugged. "Besides. I could look after him a bit."

"Could you?" Cole looked up with a hopeful smile. "That would be awesome."

"I have my moments. Now get going." The ghostly Sensei's expression softened. "Stay safe."

"Thanks." Cole finally found his spare mask and put it on. "Phew. I promise, next year we're going have a nice normal April Fool's Day. You'll like it."

"I think not. I already told you, I have no patience for fools." Yang tilted his head. "With perhaps one glaring exception."

"Thanks a lot." Cole was already heading out, but he stuck out his tongue over his shoulder, too hyped to worry much about respect. As he jogged down the hall he could hear Yang's impassioned strains of "wretched, cheeky, irresponsible modern youth, they ought to all be—" dying away behind him. He chuckled softly. Being the only one to know about a cranky, troublemaking ghost was a headache sometimes, but when it came right down to it Sensei Yang was really all right.

* * *

They flew the _Bounty_ at top speed over the countryside, heading for the Wailing Alps.

"You're gonna be okay going back there, right Lloyd?" said Cole, as they all stood on the deck. "Last time wasn't really under the best circumstances."

"Ahh, I'm okay. I'm kinda eager to see the place while I'm in my own head," said Lloyd, smiling ruefully. Jay gave him a bracing nudge, while Kai reached over to ruffle his hair.

"I never got to see the place at all," said Nya. "I'm looking forward to this."

"Good thing you learned Airjitzu!" said Kai. "You're gonna need it."

"Whatcha looking at, Zane?" said Lloyd, looking to the Nindroid.

"The countryside," said Zane, peering over the ship's railing. "Clearly it was not spared."

The others joined him looking down. Far below, the landscape was indeed in chaos. Train tracks had been rearranged to form rollercoaster loops. Sections of fields were just rippling gently like the surface of a pond. Random geysers of water were spurting from the ground.

"Look out!" cried Zane suddenly, as a particularly motivated geyser shot towards them. Everyone dove to the deck as the jet of water struck the ship's hull, sending it pitching.

"Ugh," groaned Nya once the turbulence was over. "I hope we make it to the Wailing Alps in one piece."

Some Wallobers flew by, graceful on their pure-white wings.

"I think I'm going back inside," said Kai.

* * *

They couldn't arrive soon enough.

"ETA in three minutes," called Misako through the intercom. The ninja assembled hastily.

"Is there possibly some way to get up the mountain without actually climbing it this time?" said Jay. "Last time was the _worst_. And we don't have our mechs anymore!"

"Well, I think we might have an easier time now," said Nya, peering out the _Bounty'_ s front window. The others looked and exclaimed in surprise. The steep snow-covered sides of the Wailing Alps were now cascading with bright, shifting colors, like the lights on a carnival ride. The trees around the base were oddly blocky, almost like they were . . . pixelated . . . and there were large flat slabs of earth floating up and down the mountainside, like a cable-free ski lift.

"Who turned the Wailing Alps into a video game?" said Jay.

"We'll know soon enough." Nya bundled on a parka and headed outside. The other ninja followed her. As the _Bounty_ drifted past the train of cycling platforms, the ninja all jumped over the railing and landed on a platform going up.

"Take care!" called Misako, waving. "I'll keep the ship hovering here and stay in contact with Wu."

"Good luck Mom!" called Lloyd, waving back. Then he settled down next to the others. "Well, this is definitely a lot easier than last time."

"Yep. Looks like this thing runs all the way to the top!" said Jay, settling back happily. "Now this is travel!"

The relaxing trip was somewhat marred by the arrival of savage turtles and bug-shaped robots, who jumped up onto the platform and tried to attack the ninja. It turned out you could defeat them by just jumping on top of them, though, so it wasn't a major hassle. Jay hadn't been this happy in untold ages.

"Be careful," said Zane anxiously. "We do not know what will happen if you are struck."

"Struck by what?" said Jay, booting a turtle off the edge of the platform. "These kids couldn't hit a—"

A large crab-shaped robot bonked him with one claw. It wasn't a particularly damaging hit, but without warning Jay went up in a jingling explosion of giant golden rings. It gave them all the worst of heart attacks.

"Are you okay?!" asked Nya. Jay was sprawled back on his hands, looking rattled. One of the golden rings bounced into him and vanished with a cloud of sparkles and a "ka-ching!"

"I think I'm done," said Jay thinly.

They finally reached the top of the Wailing Alps, without once encountering any problems with wind squalls. They jumped off onto the peak, which was now made of multicolored flashing squares. Far above in the distance, the Blind Man's Eye whirled ominously.

"At least the storm hasn't been shut off or anything," said Kai.

As the portal to Cloud Kingdom drew closer, everyone geared up to Airjitzu into it.

"Heh, this looks so much easier now that we're good at Airjitzu," said Cole. Nya chuckled nervously; she was still a bit of an amateur.

"Want a hand?" said Kai. "No shame."

"I'll be fine." Nya tossed her head.

The storm finally drew overhead, and one by one the ninja launched into whirling Airjitzu funnels, boosting easily into the center of the storm. Jay gave Nya a questioning look, but she shook her head and made a shooing motion. Jay spread his hands and took off without her.

Nya summoned her funnel without issue, and she just about made it into the Blind Man's Eye too. Over the last few feet, though, the teal bubble surrounding her flickered, and she began to wobble slightly. She dug her teeth into her lip, glancing down to the blinking colored squares of the mountaintop below. They seemed awfully far away.

"Hey!"

A hand closed over her arm just before she could fall. She looked up to see Jay, who had slowed his own funnel to stay on her level. He pulled her briefly into his own blue Airjitzu sphere, checking if she was okay. Then he gave her a wink and tossed her up, boosting her Airjitzu so she could land safely—and without any evidence of outside help. He barely made the landing himself thanks to the delay; Nya, brushing herself off, gave him a grateful smile.

Soon they were all standing safely on the springy cloud-ground of Cloud Kingdom.

"We made it! Everyone okay?" called Lloyd.

Before anyone could answer, there was an earsplitting crash. Everyone's attention snapped to the glistening city not far away. Now that they took notice, there was a continuous dull roar coming from that direction.

"Well, at least we know we've come to the right place," said Cole. "Let's see if the monks are okay."

As they walked towards the city, they could see gray-robed figures running willy-nilly amongst the buildings, scurrying in and out and sometimes sailing right off the edge of a roof somewhere. There also seemed to be random scuffles taking place in the streets.

"What is going _on?_ " said Nya.

This time when they approached the gates there was nobody to greet them. They were fine with that—they slipped in unnoticed and stood unobtrusively by a building, watching the chaos.

"I don't see anyone except monks," said Zane. "They are not fighting an external invader. They are fighting amongst themselves."

"But why would they do that?"

They headed for the Hall of Scribes, Airjitzuing from island to floating island as needed. Luckily flying-boat traffic seemed to have ground to a halt, which made sneaking around easier.

When they got to the kingdom's grand main hall, they were greeted by the final boss of Perfect Chaos. All the building's doors were wide open, and clattering and hollering rang from within. Chairs and writing desks were overturned. Ink was splashed all over the floor. Quill pens were strewn every which way. Scrolls and parchments, in various states of unrolled-ness, were festooned over everything or piled in careless heaps. Monks were dashing around through this mess, pulling more scrolls out of cubbies in the walls, slapping them down on the nearest semi-flat surface, writing with great flourishes of quill pens. There was much shouting and cackling.

"What are they doing?" whispered Nya, bewildered.

Just then a monk caught sight of the little group peeking through the doorway.

"NINJA!" he bellowed. "They've come to interfere! GET THEM!"

"Uh-oh." The ninja backed away as a horde of angry-looking monks all turned towards them and started to advance.

"We should go," said Jay.

And go they did. It took a lot of running, and some skillful use of Airjitzu, but they finally lost their pursuers. They slid to a halt in a quiet side street somewhere, panting.

"What in all the realms was that?" gasped Cole, leaning his hands on his knees. "'Interfere'? Why would the monks think we're interfering?"

"They didn't seem worried or stressed," said Nya, scratching her head. "Just . . . chaotic."

"But it's definitely them messing up Ninjago," said Lloyd. "With the mess they had in there, and all the crazy writing they were doing, it's amazing Ninjago isn't rubble yet!"

"Don't jinx it," groaned Kai.

Suddenly Zane's head pricked up at the sound of a soft whisper.

"Psssst!"

"Did you hear that?" Zane looked around.

"Pssst! Over here!" The whisper came again. One quick search later, the ninja found the source.

"Hey!" said Kai. "You're the little monk who helped us the last time we were here!"

"Yes, it's me," said the little monk. He looked worn-out and frightened. "Quickly, come behind this wall! I can't let them see me."

"What's going on? Are they looking for you, uh . . . "

"Nobu," said the monk, as the ninja hopped behind the wall to hide with him. "And yes, they are."

"Why? Is everything okay?"

"Oh, it's all my fault," groaned Nobu, slumping back against the wall. "All of this!"

The ninja looked at one another, remembering the chaos back in the Hall of Scribes. It sure didn't look like one little monk could cause all of _that._

"You remember, when you were chasing Morro the last time you were here?" said Nobu. "You remember how Nimbus stopped Fenwick from following you?"

"Yeah . . . "

"That was because of me. I changed Fenwick's destiny scroll. I only wrote for Nimbus to chase him, but . . . he never came back."

"You _killed_ Fenwick?!"

"I-I think so." Nobu cringed. "At least, everyone thought so. A-and because I had killed the Master Writer, that made me the new Master Writer."

"This place sure has some sophisticated governance," said Nya acidically.

"And I'm a _terrible_ Master Writer!" wailed Nobu. "I can't make anyone listen to me. The scribes have been getting restless for months now. For April Fool's Day they wanted to bring chaos to Ninjago, and when I said they shouldn't, they overthrew me. There's no stopping them!"

"There'd better be stopping them," said Cole. "Because I don't feel like living the rest of my life in a Ninjago full of killer cakes."

Nobu shook his head despairingly, digging his hands into his hair.

"You see," said Jay. "This is what happens when a place doesn't have video games. Slow descent into madness."

"Zip it, Jay."

"We need to think of something," said Lloyd. "Do you think any of the scribes might be on your side? Could we talk some sense into them? Is there some way we can undo what they've done to Ninjago?"

Nobu had been shaking his head to each one of these questions. On the last one he shrugged.

"I could write a reversal clause, but the other monks would immediately start writing up chaos again. They're enjoying this too much to be stopped."

Cole muttered some dangerous things between his teeth.

"Here's a question, though," said Nya. "How do you guys even make things happen in Ninjago at all? You just write stuff down on a scroll, and it comes true? How?"

"The ink is magic," said Nobu.

"Of course," sighed Nya.

"So are the pens and parchment," Nobu continued. "But the ink is the most important . . . part . . . " His eyes widened. "Ohh. Maybe there _is_ something we can do!"

"What, what?" The ninja looked at him eagerly.

"Well, we do need a constant supply of ink," said Nobu. "Our magic ink is specially produced using an ancient ink machine. It's the only one of its kind, and the technology is so old it's been lost to the ages. So . . . hypothetically . . . if we were to break the ink machine . . . "

"Then there'd be no more ink, and the scribes couldn't write any more destinies?"

"Right." Nobu rubbed his head. "But it would be nearly impossible. To break the ink machine we would have to go into the Hall of Scribes, and there's no way any of us could get in there unnoticed."

"Huh." Cole looked back in the general direction of the great hall, remembering the seething masses of scribes. "Well . . . what do we do now?"

"We could give up," said Jay, plunking down next to the wall.

"Oh, stop it. There must be something we can do."

"Like give up."

"If you're not going to help Jay, can you at least quit being a downer and let us think?"

"No, I've done my thinking," said Jay. "You guys do what you want. I'm giving up."


	3. You're the Creator, You Traitor

A while later Jay was heading for the Hall of Scribes, waving a white flag over his head. He hoped Cloud Kingdom surrender protocols worked the same way as Ninjago's.

"Hey! HEY!" he called, making his way cautiously into the hall. "I come in peace!"

A few monks noticed him and stopped their rampaging. Gradually the others took notice as well, gathering by twos and threes in a large cluster around Jay. The lightning ninja smiled nervously.

"Uhh, hi guys." He kept the white flag up above his head, just in case. "I was wondering if you'd, uh . . . let me join you?"

"Join us?" One of the taller monks stepped forward, looking suspicious. "You're one of the ninja! There's no way we'll trust you."

"Ohh, come on, guys!" Jay held out his free hand in earnest supplication. "Give me a little credit. You know about everyone in Ninjago, including me—you know I like a joke!"

There was some murmuring among the monks.

"That's true."

"Very true."

"He does have an anarchic streak . . . "

"Yeah, and come on," said Jay, heartened. "To tell the truth, I've been looking to get out of this ninja team for a while now. I'm overworked and underappreciated, and honestly the guys are jerks. Shut up Jay, quit freaking out Jay, get your stupid inventions out of here Jay. I'm sick of being the low man on the totem pole, y'know? I want some revenge."

More murmuring. A lot of nodding. Jay bounced on the balls of his feet, looking around with a hopeful smile.

The tall monk was consulting with a few of the others. Finally he turned back to Jay.

"We accept your offer," he said. "Of course, we'll keep you on probation for a while before we let you handle a pen. But you may help us mix the scrolls today as we spread chaos through Ninjago."

"Awesome! Thanks!" Jay broke into a delighted grin. The tall monk smiled back and held out one hand. Jay shook it solemnly.

Just before they ended the handshake, though, Jay looked up and locked gazes with the tall monk. A dangerous spark suddenly lit up his eyes. The next second the tall monk was jolting back with a yelp, crackling with electricity. Two other monks caught him before he could fall over.

Jay stood with a slightly-too-surprised expression, lightning still sparkling off his hand.

"Whoooooops."

"It's a trick!" bellowed one of the monks. "Get him!"

Jay took off like a bristling cat, and the entire posse of monks roared furiously after him. After the group had thundered out of the Hall of Scribes, Jay dropped from his hiding spot above the doorframe and chortled his way back into the room.

"That was the best thing," he announced to the others, who were flooding in through the other door at the far end of the hall.

"Good job, Jay! I can't believe that actually worked," said Kai.

"Ah, being a living joy buzzer has its perks," said Jay, polishing his knuckles on his shoulder.

"Now, let's get to that machine!" said Cole. "Lead the way, Nobu."

Everyone hurried after the little monk, who was heading for a large ornate cabinet standing off to one side. Well, almost everyone. Nya wheeled around and exclaimed in surprise as she saw Jay heading for one of the writing tables instead.

"Jay, what are you doing? Come on!"

"Just one minute!" said Jay, grabbing a piece of parchment. "Before we cut the connection between realms forever, I want to try this for myself. Just once!"

"Jay, no! Don't mess with destiny!" called Lloyd, appalled.

"Oh, just one little joke," said Jay, jotting away with a pen he'd brought along. He knit his brows when it made no marks on the parchment, then began to scribble it furiously, trying to get the ink running again.

"That won't work," said Nobu. "The destiny parchment only works with our special ink and pens."

"Ohh, well then!" Jay grabbed a large quill pen standing nearby and jammed it into a handy inkwell. "Ah, now that works!"

"No, Jay, wait! The pens of destiny can only be used—"

The quill exploded.

"—by a designated scribe," finished Nobu helplessly. Jay spluttered, blinking ink from his eyes. He looked bewildered for a few seconds, then glared back at the others, who were laughing themselves sick.

"You've got a really dumb system set up here," he told Nobu grumpily. The little monk turned up his palms, though he was visibly trying not to smile.

While Jay sorted himself out, the others followed Nobu to the ornate cabinet. It was quite tall, with fancy carvings and paintings and gilding.

"Well, here it is," said Nobu. He stopped and looked up at the cabinet for a moment. Then he looked at the ninja. Then at the cabinet again.

"Well?" said Cole at last.

"Um," said Nobu.

"Um, what?"

Nobu gave them a pained look, then stood on his toes and stretched one hand towards the knobs demonstratively. He couldn't reach.

"Oh!" Cole laughed awkwardly. "Sorry."

He stepped forward and reached as far as he could, and just barely managed to grab a knob and pull the cabinet's double doors open. He blinked at the blank wooden back of the cabinet that greeted him.

"Uhhh . . . Is this machine . . . " He looked down to see if there was a very small machine sitting on the cabinet floor, then jumped back. There _was_ no cabinet floor. Instead there was a gaping black abyss.

"The ink machine is down there," said Nobu, to the ninja's incredulous looks.

"Are you . . . sure?" Kai peered down the long shaft.

"Of course!" Nobu clambered over the cabinet's front and casually jumped down into the darkness. The ninja exchanged glances again, but one by one they lined up and jumped after him.

Nya and Jay went last. Jay was still grumbling and shedding droplets of ink every which way.

"You okay?" asked Nya, smiling.

"Fine. Juuuust fine." Jay shook ink from his fingers.

"You know, you were really convincing back there," said Nya. "With the monks."

"Heh. Thanks."

Nya hesitated.

"You, uh . . . don't _really_ want to leave the team, do you?"

"Huh?" Jay looked up from wicking ink from his shirt. "Ohhh, come on! Of course not."

"Not even with all that stuff that . . . only you and me remember?" Nya looked away. "You know. Tiger Widow Island?"

"Nahhh. You made up for it. And you know, since these guys were controlling destiny back then, it's technically _their_ fault we went through all of that." Jay looked around reflectively. "Huh. Now I wish I'd zapped that guy harder."

Nya chuckled and was about to say something, but just then Kai's voice echoed from below.

"You guys coming, or what?"

"Ahh. We should go. We'll talk once the ink dries." Nya gave Jay a wink and jumped down the cabinet shaft. Jay grinned and jumped after her.

* * *

The shaft turned out to be a very cool twisty slide, and there was a sort of giant beanbag chair at the bottom to cushion the landing. The room was not too big, and the walls were a plain gray stone, but there was some dim but pleasant electric-type lighting. Nobu and the other ninja were already standing around a gigantic contraption off to one side of the room. It looked fit to go in a Dr. Seuss book, especially with the way it vibrated erratically and made random un-professional machine noises. A large tube fed ink up through the ceiling, while a somewhat smaller tube drew a clear glittery liquid up through the floor.

"This is the essence of Ninjago," said Nobu, pointing at the floor. "The ink machine draws it up and mixes it with the ink, then sends it up to be collected. Whatever we write returns to Ninjago."

"That's honestly kind of creepy," said Nya. "I didn't know there was another realm sucking the essence out of our realm."

"It's a very small extraction," assured Nobu. "I'm sure stopping the process won't make much difference either way."

Which was heartening, because when Nobu was sure about something you knew it was a safe bet.

"So, does this thing have any magical security or anything?" said Kai. "Or can we just break it?"

"Just break it, I think," said Nobu.

"Great." Cole pulled out his scythe. "I'm good at breaking things."

There followed scenes of brutality unfit for human eyes. They hit the machine with everything they had, and even a few things they didn't. Kicks, Spinjitzu, all their weapons—nothing made a dent in it.

"Phew," said Kai, once they had all been reduced to futile panting. "Are you _sure_ this thing doesn't have some kind of magical safeguard?"

"I don't know. The ancients were very thorough," said Nobu, pulling anxiously at his hair.

"Perhaps we do not need to fully destroy the machine," said Zane. "Perhaps we only need to find a single weak spot."

"Such as?"

Zane reached over and tugged on the smaller tube sucking essence out of Ninjago. It detached with an easy _pop!_ The tube began to suck greedily at empty air, while the hole in the floor where it had previously gone closed up of its own accord.

"Such as this," said Zane mildly.

There was a sink in the same room, so they ran a long tube up to it, fastened them together, and turned on the tap. That would replace the inflow of Ninjagian essence to keep the ink the proper consistency.

"Sorry about your water bill," said Kai.

"It's all right. Filtering essence out of Ninjago certainly wasn't cheap either," said Nobu.

They scrabbled back up the slide shaft and returned to the Hall of Scribes.

"Still empty," said Cole. "They must still be looking for you, Jay."

"Well, I'm glad they have so much faith in my hiding skills," said Jay proudly.

"We're not done yet!" said Nobu. He dug through the litter on the floor till he found a scroll with some blank space on it. Hurrying to the nearest semi-upright table, he grabbed an inkwell and wrote in clear script, "Everything written in Cloud Kingdom since April 1st, 2017, is henceforth undone."

"There we go! Ninjago is fixed," he said, rolling up the scroll and sealing it.

"Easy as that?" said Nya.

"Easy as that." Nobu smiled ruefully. "We do have quite a bit of deus ex machina power. Every monk has to go to school for years to learn how to keep life's plots a little more . . . complex."

"Ick. I'm glad we're shutting this place down," said Nya. "No offense."

"None taken." Nobu hopped up from the table and began scurrying around the giant room, gathering an armload of scrolls from the floor. "But we are not done yet! We must make sure that the other scribes cannot make more changes."

"Well, what do we do?" asked Lloyd. Nobu slid to a halt, scrolls spilling from his arms, and looked up at him in surprise.

"You're the expert here." Lloyd spread his hands, smiling. "We're taking orders from you."

Nobu flushed, his eyes brightening. He seemed to stand up a little taller.

"W-well," he stammered, then cleared his throat and continued more bravely. "We must destroy the backup reserves of ink, and all the scrolls."

"Are you sure?" said Cole. "Hurting a scroll doesn't make bad things happen? Last time we were here, Jay spilled some ink on a scroll, and the scribe acted like it was a bad thing."

"That's because the parchment was 'in progress'," said Nobu. "Any changes made to an open scroll will manifest in Ninjago, or here in Cloud Kingdom. But if a scroll is sealed, you can do whatever you like and it won't change anything." He smiled shyly. "That's why we don't have mountains of scrolls piling up from the hundreds of years we've been writing destinies. We burn the old sealed ones." He fished a scroll out of the armload he carried.

"This is one of yours, Cole! A very special scroll. This is the one that said you would be turned from a ghost back into a human."

"No way," whispered Cole. "Can I . . . uh, can I read it?"

"Go ahead."

The others crowded around as Cole carefully broke the seal and unrolled the long strip of parchment. It did indeed list out the specifics of that fateful Day of the Departed.

"This is too cool," said Cole, grinning from ear to ear.

"Now, if you were to harm that scroll now," said Nobu, "you would turn back into a ghost."

"Uhm." Cole blanched a bit and held the scroll carefully away from himself.

"But if I seal it up again," Nobu gently took the scroll, spooled it, and affixed a little wax stamp to it, "now it can safely be destroyed." He held it up. "Go on. Try."

Cole gulped.

"Are you _sure_ this is how it works?"

"You'll be fine, I promise," said Nobu.

Kai looked questioningly to Cole, who nodded. The fire ninja sighed and called up a fistful of flame. As Cole cringed and shut his eyes, Kai nailed the scroll down the center with a fireball. It smoldered, crumbling into glowing embers.

Cole opened one eye. Still a mortal, with just a glowing green scar on his temple. Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

"You needn't have worried so much," said Nobu with a small smile. "Even if something went wrong, I could have written you a new destiny with the leftover magic ink and paper up here."

"And that's where our problem is, right?" said Kai. "Any jerk could get in here, unseal some scrolls, and write up new nonsense."

"Precisely. Which is why they must all be destroyed!" Nobu went back to gathering scrolls. "Help me find all the open ones. I'll seal them up so we can destroy them without accidentally ruining history. Meanwhile, you can get rid of the backup ink canisters!"

"How?"

"Just spill them!"

The ninja looked at each other.

"We're kind of vandalizing the place, aren't we?" said Lloyd hesitantly.

"Ahh. It's not like we can make things much worse," said Jay, looking around at the welter of spilled inkwells and crumpled scrolls. "Besiiiiiides. These guys tried to vandalize _Ninjago_."

"That's true," said Cole.

They sprang into action. Some of the ninja ran around gathering open scrolls for Nobu to seal. (The wax stamps, like the pens, could only be handled by a scribe.) The rest of them clambered atop the shelves, where extra canisters of ink were stored, and began to overturn them. Soon waterfalls of ink were cascading down the shelf fronts and spreading in pools on the floor.

"Dip the sealed scrolls in the ink!" called Nobu, still applying wax stamps at a frantic pace. "It'll destroy them faster than burning!"

"Oh coooooool, they have different colors!" called Jay. He upended a canister of deep burgundy ink.

"This one's blue!" said Nya, knocking over another.

"And a pink one!" said Zane. "It smells like . . . strawberries?" He dipped a finger into the ink canister and tasted cautiously. "It also tastes like strawberries!"

"No wayyy, flavored ink? Are they all like that?" Cole dipped his hand into a stream of green ink dripping from a shelf and tasted it eagerly. Then he gagged.

"Nope. Just ink."

"Only you would try to eat ink, Cole," said Kai. He got a dripping scroll to the head for his wit.

There was a very tight limit on how long you could expect maturity from teenage ninjas, so it was only a matter of time before ink was flying every which way. Nobu watched with one eye as he finished sealing the last of the scrolls, fretting.

"Relax, Nobu!" called Jay, skidding over. "We're still doing our job. Just, uh, less efficiently than we might."

His feet lost purchase on the ink-slippery floor, and he windmilled his arms furiously. Nobu started forward anxiously, but Jay had already regained his balance. He gave Nobu a grin.

"Come on, join us! I'll destroy the rest of the scroooAUGH!"

Nobu winced as Jay's momentary balance failed and he went down with a crash.

"I'm fine!" he called from the floor, rubbing his head.

"Maybe I'll just watch for a bit," said Nobu.

Eventually the chaos died down and the ninja sat down to catch their breaths.

"Is that everything?" said Lloyd. "All the scrolls, all the ink?"

"If we missed anything, it's a miracle," said Kai, flopping back. "Look at the _ceiling._ "

"Why do you have so many colors of ink, anyway?" asked Nya, peeling her damp ninja mask from her face.

"They have different purposes." Nobu picked his way through the soaked scrolls and pools of ink to stand by the ninja. "Red ink is for danger and disaster. Blue is for the destinies of the depressed. Green is for world records, first achievements, and other monumental events. Pink is for sweet moments."

"Well, we just saved Ninjago from crazy scribes with a taste for anarchy," said Cole. "I'd say that's pretty sweet."

"Cole, stop eating ink. Off the floor."

"It's good, okay?"

The others started to laugh, but they were cut short by a sudden loud "a-HEM!" from nearby. Everyone whirled. What looked like the entire population of Cloud Kingdom had gathered at the other end of the room.

"Sooooo." The tall scribe from before folded his arms. "We found our interlopers."

The ninja scrambled to their feet, struggling not to slip and slide. Cole pulled Nobu behind him protectively, knowing the little monk would be in some of the biggest trouble.

"It seems our ancient and sacred hall has been vandalized," continued the tall monk. "By a gang of irresponsible children and one traitorous little midget."

His voice rose to a sharp growl at the end of the sentence. Nobu shrank a little farther behind Cole, shivering.

"That's not very nice," said Kai tersely.

"Neither is what we're going to do to you," retorted the tall scribe, smirking.

The ninja stood, frozen, as the monks started to purposefully advance upon them. Just when things started looking panic-worthy, there was a sudden call of "halt!"

Now everyone turned to look, ninja and monks alike. In the doorway stood a familiar figure.

" _Fenwick!_ " blurted Nobu. "You're alive!"

Fenwick stood in the doorway, looking rather regal. He was wearing snow-white robes and a collar of dense fur.

"Scribes of Cloud Kingdom!" he shouted. "I have spent many weeks in the clan of the Yeti!"

A growl came from behind him. Through the door the ninja glimpsed Nimbus—and then another Nimbus—and three more Nimbuses—golly, there was a whole squadron of them! They were all decked in jewels and kingly scarves.

"I have lived among them, and learned their ways," continued Fenwick. "The ways of the warrior, the ways of the wild. Now I return to you once more as Master Writer, and as king!"

The scribes went up in a deafening cheer.

"We will take back our kingdom!" Fenwick shouted. "We will once again take destiny in our grasp!"

More cheering.

"We will bring disaster and misery to Ninjago, and to all the realms!" Fenwick was bellowing by now. "All shall know the name of Cloud Kingdom, AND TREMBLE!"

This time the cheering shook the ink-splattered roof. The scribes were clearly very down for the return of their former Master Writer.

"But first," Fenwick's voice dropped back to fairly normal, "we must deal with some traitors."

Everyone turned back to the ninja, now with even more bloodthirsty intent. They found only empty space.


	4. So You've Come to the End Now

"Oh my oh my oh my oh my!" gasped Nobu. The little monk's feet almost flew off the ground as Kai and Nya pulled him rapidly along.

"Keep running! It's only a matter of time till they find our footprints," called Cole, looking back at the multicolored tracks trailing behind them.

"Get into a boat! It'll hide our trail and help us get to the Blind Man's Eye!" said Kai.

They found a flying boat moored near a cloudy "shore," and all the ninja leaped in.

"Nobu, come on!" said Nya. "Aren't you coming?"

"I . . . I don't know," said Nobu. He stood on the shore, looking torn. "I—I've lived in Cloud Kingdom all my life . . . I don't know anyplace else! I don't _belong_ anyplace else."

"The scribes! They're coming!" yelled Jay, pointing into the distance.

"Hurry Nobu, they'll catch you! Who knows what they'll do?!"

"Ohhh, they wouldn't do anything _too_ bad," said Nobu, smiling weakly. "I-I suppose they might put me in the dungeons for a few centuries. Or send me to the Pit of Despair. Or . . . feed me to the Yeti, or . . . " He trailed off, swiveling his head between the ninja and the distant swarm of approaching monks. "Who am I kidding, take me with you!"

He took a running jump into the boat, sending it rocking. The ninja cheered and thumped him on the back, while Zane cast off the boat's moorings.

"We need to go, fast!" he shouted.

"I'll give us a boost!" said Cole. His hands lit up orange, and he drew back one fist, aiming for the bank.

"Cole NO, DON'T—"

Cole had already unleashed one of his hyper punches, shaking the cloudy earth and sending the boat leaping forwards. It also turned a front sumersault.

"We SAID not to do it, Cole!" yelled Jay as everyone tried to untangle themselves. Luckily no one had fallen out. Nobu was already scrambling to rig up the sails, contributing his expertise with these small crafts.

"They're getting boats of their own!" said Lloyd anxiously, watching the action astern. "They're following us!"

"Hang tight!" Nobu pulled a rope into place grimly. "We'll give them the slip!"

There was much chaos and anxiety as the small craft rocketed forward, pursued by a growing fleet of boats full of angry scribes.

"Almost there!" cried Nobu. Up ahead was the familiar whirlpool of the outgoing Blind Man's Eye. The boat began to circle, tilting steeply as it drained down in the spinning vortex of clouds. Teeth gritted, Nobu suddenly yanked on the rudder. Everyone yelped in terror as the boat rolled over, spilling them all out. The craft scudded away, angling out of the whirlpool—while the ninja disappeared.

The fall seemed long, but they landed in soft snow.

"Phewwww." Cole groaned, lifting his head. "Well, the Wailing Alps are back to normal!"

"We made it!" said Nya.

Everyone sat up and looked up at the Blind Man's Eye, still whirling overhead.

"Do you think they'll follow us down here?" asked Kai.

"I think not," said Nobu. "Once a monk leaves Cloud Kingdom, he can never return. They would not want to risk that."

"Well, that's all right then," said Cole. "Now we just have to figure out how to explain why we're covered in . . . ink . . . " He looked down at himself, bewildered. The others were also startled. There didn't seem to be a spot of ink on anyone.

"Destiny ink is unusual stuff," said Nobu, with his usual small smile. He seemed distracted, though. As the ninja picked themselves up, the little Cloud Kingdom expatriate turned to look over the snowy mountain range.

"Is this Ninjago?" he said softly.

"This? This is just a part of it!" said Jay, slinging an arm around Nobu's shoulders. "I mean, not dissing Cloud Kingdom, but the landscape you guys have up there is pretty blah. Just clouds and islands. Down here we've got everything! There's more mountains, and volcanoes, and jungles, and deserts, and ice caps, and grasslands, oh! and my parents' junkyard! And our ninja base on a floating island!"

Nobu was quiet.

"Something wrong?" asked Nya.

"I-it's just . . . a little overwhelming," said Nobu. "Ninjago is so . . . big." He looked down, fiddling with his hands. "And I don't belong anywhere in it."

"Nooo, come on," said Jay. "There's always room in Ninjago! You'll fit right in."

"You can stay with us," said Kai. "You'll get to see a ton of new places, have a lot of adventures."

"But I don't know anything about adventures," said Nobu. "I've spent my whole life reading and writing."

"Well then," said Lloyd. "I think I know someplace you'll like."

* * *

"Welcome to the Library of Domu," said Lloyd, leading the way into the dim, paper-scented building. "The biggest library in all of Ninjago."

Nobu looked around with wide eyes, drinking in the books all around him.

"Think you'd like to stay here?" said Kai, smiling.

"Oh yes," breathed Nobu.

"Well, let's see about getting you hired."

They ran into a little difficulty at the curator's desk.

"Do you have any experience in the field?" asked the curator.

"Oh, yes sir!" Nobu peeked over the edge of the desk, wobbling on his toes. "Eight hundred sixty-five years of experience!"

The curator looked at him silently. Nobu shrank a little.

"I—I know I'm a bit young, but I've always worked hard, sir!"

The curator looked from him to the ninja, his expression dubious.

"He's from another realm," explained Lloyd. "I guess their aging happens differently."

The curator's expression didn't change. After a moment the ninja realized what day it was and hastened to compensate.

"No, no, this isn't a joke!"

"He really is from Cloud Kingdom, and he really does need a job."

"You know all that crazy stuff that was happening in Ninjago today? He helped us put a stop to it!"

"Heck, he totally led the entire mission. We couldn't have done it without him."

"He's a hero and everything!"

"And a very knowledgeable librarian."

Nobu was blushing to the very tips of his ears, not knowing where to look. He smiled shyly at the curator, who was scrutinizing him more favorably now.

"Do you know the Dewey decimal system, uh . . . young man?"

"Not perfectly," said Nobu truthfully. "But I think I could learn. I've organized personal scrolls for the entire population of Ninjago."

The curator scratched his chin, then looked to the ninjas' hopeful expressions and shrugged. He turned back to Nobu, holding out one hand.

"Well, you're hired."

Nobu was already proudly wearing a little "Lib of D" T-shirt and clutching a book as the ninja said their goodbyes. He got a lot of handshakes and pats on the back and a few hugs—the ninja had all grown very fond of him.

"Thanks for all your help," said Cole. "We really couldn't have taken Cloud Kingdom without you."

"No, thank _you_ ," said Nobu. "I think I'm going to like it here."

"We'll come to visit you all the time," said Lloyd. "And you'll probably see my uncle and mom a _lot_. They do lots of research."

"And maybe on the weekends we can take you on a tour of Ninjago!" said Jay. "There's volcanoes and raging rivers out there. You should see 'em."

"If you don't mind," smiled Nobu, holding up his book, "I think I'll read about them first."

* * *

It was almost dark by the time the _Bounty_ returned home.

"What a day," sighed Kai, leaning on the railing as the Temple of Airjitzu drew into sight. "I thought I'd be dodging springy snakes, not severing the connection between realms to save Ninjago from dissolving reality."

"Yeah, talk about the worst," said Jay glumly. "We pretty much missed all of April Fool's Day."

"But it was still a pretty fun day," said Nya. "I'm glad I got to see Cloud Kingdom."

"I wonder how long before the scribes realize their ink doesn't affect Ninjago anymore," said Lloyd. The others chuckled.

"So," said Jay as they headed for the temple. "Maybe we can have a postponed April Fool's Day tomorrow?"

"Nah, that's cheating," said Cole.

"I bet you're just saying that because you couldn't come up with any ideas!"

"I could come up with ideas if I wanted to," said Cole, rattling the doorknob. The knob turned, but the door didn't open. He looked up, puzzled, and found a board had been nailed across the double doors, squarely at eye level.

"Woah," said Kai. "Something's up."

"Let's try the other door."

As they headed around the temple to get to the small back entrance, they saw that all the windows were shuttered and nailed closed, even the ones on the upper floors.

"What was Sensei Wu _doing_ back here?" said Jay.

"Look at the back door!" said Nya. "It's open."

The back door was mostly cast in shadows, but it was definitely slightly ajar. A little concerned by now, the ninja approached it cautiously.

"Sensei, are you okay?" called Cole. He pulled open the door, then yelped as cold water showered from overhead. Shaking his hair out of his eyes, he blinked up at the bucket contraption fastened over the door.

"Well, I guess I should be grateful it can't kill me now." He glanced a little ruefully to the others, who had recovered from their surprise and burst out laughing. Misako patted his arm sympathetically.

"Ahh, you've returned," said Sensei Wu, appearing in the hallway. "Ninjago returned to normal hours ago, I was starting to wonder what was keeping you."

"We had to make a stop on the way back," said Jay, as everyone came piling in. "That was awesome, Sensei! How did you manage to nail everything shut from the outside, then rig the back door from the outside, and still get _inside?_ "

"A Sensei never tells," said Wu. "Now, all of you go to get cleaned up. You are tracking invisible destiny ink into the house." He looked Cole over. "You're probably all right, though."

Cole sighed, half-rolling his eyes.

"Enjoy being the only fool this year," teased Jay, elbowing him as he trotted by. Everyone disappeared to change and shower, or in Misako's case to have some tea, leaving only Wu and Cole standing in the hallway.

"Don't feel too bad," said the Sensei to a disheartened earth master. "The back door is the least of it."

Cole looked momentarily puzzled, then broke into a smile, understanding. Wu gave him a wink.

"Seriously though, Sensei," said Cole. "How _did_ you do that?"

"He had some help," said a voice. Cole's head snapped up. Sensei Yang was nested comfortably on the blades of the ceiling fan, rotating in lazy circles. Cole looked between the ghostly Sensei and the live one a few times, his eyes wide.

"Sensei . . . I mean, Sensei Wu . . . did you . . . "

"After a fashion," said Wu. "While Ninjago was still in chaos, Sensei Yang assisted me in deflecting some kitchen knives that came to life. Seeing that someone invisible was there, I remembered this." Wu held out a glittering pale-blue stone, in a brilliant gem cut. "It is the Seeker Stone. It allows one to see that which is not readily visible: the hearts of men, the desires of women, the edges of the human mind—and also cursed ghosts."

"You can see him now?" Cole's face lit up.

"Only when I look through the stone," said Wu, as Yang dropped from the ceiling fan and brushed himself off. "But yes. I can also hear him, but only when I am looking at him." He leaned a bit closer to Cole and lowered his voice. "Which is a blessing, honestly."

"I heard that!" said Yang, folding his arms. Cole laughed delightedly. It was such a relief to no longer be the only one to know about Yang. The old ghost could certainly use another friend, especially a wise peer like Wu—and Cole knew that the Sensei would back him up if he ever had to convince the other ninja about Yang's existence.

"You should probably dry off," said Wu, patting Cole's shoulder and heading for the kitchen to join Misako at the teakettle. "You wouldn't want to miss the fun when it starts."

Chuckling, Cole went to dig a towel out of the laundry room. Sensei Yang phased through the wall while Cole was drying off his hair, and the earth ninja grinned at him.

"Sooooooo. Joining in the 'frivolity' after all, huh?"

"I still fail to understand what you youngsters see in it," said Yang blandly, settling atop the dryer.

"Surrrrre, sure." Cole grew serious. "Hey. Thanks for looking out for Sensei Wu."

"My pleasure. He's an all right fellow, and I think we'll understand each other very well. Although clearly being around you infernal yahoos has addled his mind somewhat." Yang twitched his beard disapprovingly. "It was all his idea."

Cole chuckled.

"And you happily went along with it."

"Not happily. Perish the thought."

"You liiiiiiiiked it!"

"Wretched youth," said Yang, closing his eyes loftily. "You deserved what you got."

Cole snorted. Suddenly there was some crashing upstairs, and a squeal of "catch it, catch it!"

"Ah," said Yang. "They've found the chinchilla."

"A chinchilla?!" Cole threw the damp towel into the washing machine and bolted for the door. "Hey guys, wait up, I want to see!" After a second he poked his head back into the laundry room. "No use for frivolity, huh?"

"Begone with you!"

Cole grinned and disappeared. Sensei Yang sat atop the dryer and grumbled to himself for a while, twitching his beard. He liked to complain that all these noisy young ninjas were too much for an old man to handle, but honestly he already couldn't imagine his temple without them.


End file.
